Oceania

Valentin Noujaïm returns to BFMAF with Oceania, a tender and elegiac film that honours the heritage and struggles of marginalised communities, looking to the past to imagine liberatory futures. Departing from the dystopian architecture of Paris’ La Défense district, in this latest work Noujaïm shifts focus to more intimate, domestic spaces. When his elderly neighbour Mr Albahr dies, the teenage Najib begins secretly visiting his apartment, driven by an unspoken curiosity. Bathed in the ultramarine glow of a VCR screen, the space holds remnants of a life once lived — photographs, diaries, letters, and VHS tapes. As Najib uncovers the neighbour’s past loves and losses, he discovers a life forged through grief and resistance, and these fragments enkindle Najib’s own burgeoning sense of self. A quietly affecting meditation on identity and remembrance.

~ Alice Miller

Valentin Noujaïm b. France 1991, to Lebanese and Egyptian parents, graduated from the script department of La Fémis in 2020. In 2024, his short documentary “Pacific Club” was selected for the French César, while his new short fiction was selected in Tiger Shorts competition in Rotterdam. His work is crossed by the question of disappearance as a political tool, questioning the relationships of force and domination at work.

OCEANIA (2024), TO EXIST UNDER PERMANENT SUSPICION (2023), PACIFIC CLUB (2023), LES FILLES DESTINÉES (2021), L’ÉTOILE BLEUE (2020), AVANT D’OUBLIER HÉLIPOLIS (2019), LES TRACES QUE TU LAISSES (2015)